Vehicles, such as automobiles, may be equipped with one or more lamp assemblies in areas that may be particularly susceptible to the buildup of road debris (dirt, dust, rocks, etc.). For example, but without limitation, lamp assemblies installed to a front or rear vehicle bumper fascia may experience such a buildup of debris. In the latter case, the lamp assembly may be a fog lamp assembly that is installed in an opening in the rear bumper fascia of a vehicle or in an opening in a separate housing (garnish) that attaches to said bumper fascia. Because of the typical location of such a fog lamp assembly, road debris kicked up during driving of the vehicle has a tendency to accumulate on a hidden, upper surface of the fog lamp assembly that resides behind the bumper fascia. A similar situation may occur with other vehicle lamp assemblies.
Debris that accumulates in this manner may subsequently work its way from such a hidden lamp assembly surface into a design gap (or an unintended gap) between the lamp assembly and the opening in the bumper fascia, where it may thereafter become visible along an outer surface of the bumper fascia. This phenomenon is illustrated in FIG. 1. The migration of road debris in this manner is undesirable because its appearance may be aesthetically displeasing, especially when the associated lamp assembly is located in a highly visible area of the vehicle body.
In light of this problem, debris protector embodiments of the present invention and their methods of use are directed at preventing road debris from collecting on a vehicle lamp assembly in a manner that permits migration of the debris to a visible vehicle surface.